Engineers and scientists often use test and measurement instruments in their daily routine to make measurements related to their work. The data collected from these measurements is important to retain for later reference, such as for use in a patent application. The data is maintained in a personal laboratory notebook as part of a strict workflow. The test and measurement instrument can be a standalone measuring instrument, for example, an oscilloscope, or a Personal Computer (PC) based measuring instrument wherein a computer controls the test and measuring instrument.
Not very long ago, the workflow required hardcopy paper notebooks, pasted printouts of graphs, and hand written notes. Unfortunately, many engineers do not make a habit of recording information into their laboratory notebook on a regular basis. This has been attributed to the tedious nature of hand writing the content, and printing supporting documentation.
Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN), like their paper counterparts, aid in recording the daily thoughts and experiments of bench scientists and engineers. Ideally, ELNs contain data that flows automatically from instruments and can be read by all members of the technical staff. ELN pages are date- and time-stamped, and all changes tracked and authenticated. Earlier versions can also be reconstructed.
Numerous configuration options exist for an ELN system to cater to the workflows in a research and development environment. The workflows can range from a free-form structure in a research facility to a highly organized data entry structure in chemical analysis facility.
Mentioned earlier, the ELN environment is meant to have a seamless data flow between laboratory instruments and the server. However, in practice, this is rarely realized due to the ‘self centric’ design of instruments and inadequate interoperability between instruments and the ELN server.
In a workflow requiring highly structured data entry, the collection and storage of measurement records can be inconvenient for the user and can make recordkeeping within the ELN an inefficient experience. The inconvenience and inefficiency arises because setup parameters, test system topology, and other relevant information on the laboratory experiment must be identified, selected for entry, arranged in a form that is usable in an ELN context, and then sent to an ELN server at each record entry.
This makes communicating with the ELN server burdensome, resulting in a tedious workflow and an overwhelming experience for the user.
Accordingly, a need exists to simplify the collection of the features, parameters, test conditions, and data relevant to an experiment in an ELN environment.